Agvan Dorzhiev

Agvan Dorzhiev
Agvan Dorjiev

Agvan Lobsan Dorzhiev, also Agvan Dorjiev or Dorjieff (1854–1938), was a Russian-born monk of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism, sometimes referred by his scholarly title as Tsenyi Khempo. He was popularly known as the Sokpo Tsеnshab Ngawang Lobsang (literally Mongolian Tsenshab Ngavang Lobsang) to the Tibetans.[1]

He was a Khory Buryat born in the village of Khara-Shibir, not far from Ulan-Ude, east of Lake Baikal.[2]

He was a study partner and close associate of the 13th Dalai Lama, a minister of his government, and his diplomatic link with the Russian Empire. Among Tibetans he earned a legendary status, while raising the British Empire's significant anxiety of Russian presence in Tibet at the final stage of the Great Game. He is also remembered for building the Buddhist temple of St. Petersburg and signing the Tibet-Mongolia Treaty in 1913.

Contents

Buddhist studies in Tibet

He left home in 1873 at nineteen to study at the Gomang College of the Gelugpa Drepung monastic university, near Lhasa, the largest monastery in Tibet. Having successfully completed the traditional course of religious studies, he began the academic Buddhist degree of Geshey Lharampa (the highest level of 'Doctorate of Buddhist Philosophy').[3] He continued his studies and, in the mid-1880s, after 15 years of study, he attained the title of a Tsanit Khenpo ("Tsanid-Hambo"), which roughly translates as, "Master of Buddhist Philosophy" or "Professor of Buddhist Metaphysics".[4][5]

He became one of the 13th Dalai Lama's teachers, a 'debating partner', and a spiritual adviser, and retained this role until at least the late 1910s. He was probably also instrumental in saving the young Dalai Lama's life from the intrigues at the court in Lhasa, and over the years they developed a very close and lasting relationship.[6][7]

"One man in particular was to play an important role in building communications between Lhasa and the Russian Czar. This was Tsanzhab Ngawang Lobzang, a Mongolian monk who had graduated with high honors from the Gomang Departments of Drepung Monastery, and who was one of the seven dialectical instructors or Tsanzhabs to the Dalai Lama. Popularly known to the Tibetans as Tsennyi Khenpo, or "Master of Dialectics," he became famed to both the British and the Russians by the simpler name of Dorjieff (from the Tibetan Dorjey). Born in the Buriyat region of the Mongolian territories that had in recent times been acquired by the Czar, Dorjieff was therefore a Russian citizen."[8]

Envoy for the Dalai Lama

In 1896, the Tsar, Nikolai II, gave Agvan Dorzhiev a monogrammed watch for the services he had rendered to Badmayev's Russian agents in Lhasa.[9]

In early 1898 Dorzhiev went to Saint Petersburg "to collect subscriptions for his monastic college"[10] and became friendly with Prince Esper Ukhtomsky, Gentleman of the Bedchamber to the Tsar and orientalist. Dorzhiev was presented to the Tsar. Dorzhiev then went on to Paris and possibly London before returning to Lhasa.[9][11]

By the 1890s Dorjiev had begun to spread the story that Russia was the mythical land of Shambhala to the north; that its Czar might be the one to save Buddhism and that the White Tsar was an emanation of White Tara, raising hopes that he would support Tibet and its religion. Dorzhiev had suggested to the Tibetans that Russia seemed to be embracing Buddhist ideas since their recent advances into Mongolia and might prove a useful balance to British intrigues. In the spring of 1900 Dorzhiev returned to Russia with six other representatives from Thubten Gyatso (born February 12, 1876; died December 17, 1933), the 13th Dalai Lama of Tibet. They travelled through India and met the Tsar at the Livadia Palace in Crimea.[6] "When they returned they brought to Lhasa a supply of Russian arms and ammunition as well—paradoxically enough—as a magnificent set of Russian Episcopal robes as a personal present for the Dalai Lama."[12]

In 1901, Thubten Chökyi Nyima, the Ninth Panchen Lama (1883–1937), was visited by Agvan Dorzhiev. Although Dorzhiev only stayed for two days at Tashilhunpo, he received some secret teachings from the Panchen Lama, as well as readings of the Prayer of Shambhala, written by Lobsang Palden Yeshe, the Sixth (or Third) Panchen Lama, concerning the Buddhist kingdom of Shambhala, which were of great importance to Dorzhiev's developing understanding of the Kalachakra ('Wheel of Time') tantric teachings. Choekyi Nyima also gave Dorzhiev gifts including some golden statues.[13]

British suspicions

By 1903, both Lord Curzon, the Viceroy of India, and Francis Younghusband, became wrongly convinced that Russia and Tibet had signed secret treaties threatening the security of British interests in India and they suspected that Dorzhiev was working for the Russian government[14][15] Compounded by the closed nature of Tibet at the time, the fear of Russia drawing Tibet into the Great Game to control the routes across Asia was a reason for the British invasion of Tibet during 1903-4.

"Obviously," the [Fourteenth] Dalai Lama said, "the Thirteenth Dalai Lama had a keen desire to establish relations with Russia, and I also think he was a little skeptical toward England at first. Then there was Dorjiev. To the English he was a spy, but in reality he was a good scholar and a sincere Buddhist monk who had great devotion to the Thirteenth Dalai Lama."[16]

In early 1904 Dorzhiev convinced the Dalai Lama to flee to Urga in Mongolia, some 2,500 km north of Lhasa, where the Dalai Lama spent over a year giving teachings to the Mongolians.[17]

During the invasion there were rumors that Dorzhiev was in charge of the arsenal at Lhasa and directing military operations from the Gyantse Dzong (fort).[18] British troops captured several Russian-made Berdan rifles at Nagartse Dzong and breechloaders at Chumik Shenko which heightened their suspicions of Russian involvement.[19][20] These were never substantiated and there is no evidence that Dorzhiev was ever a Tsarist spy, although he had previously acted as a roving ambassador for H.H. the Dalai Lama in Russia, trying to gain support in the upper levels of Russian society.[21]

During the summer of 1912, he met the 13th Dalai Lama at Phari Dzong and then accompanied him to the Samding Monastery, before returning to Lhasa after his exile in India.

The 'White Tsars' as incarnations of White Tara.

Since the days of Catherine II - the 'Great' (1729–1796) the Romanov rulers had been considered by Russian lamaists as the incarnation of White Tara, a female bodhisattva typically associated with Buddhist tantric practice and considered an emanation of Chenresig (the bodhisattva who embodies the compassion of all Buddhas), and the protectress of the Tibetan people.[22][23] 1913 saw the great celebrations for the 300th anniversary of the Romanov's House. Dorzhiev made speeches thanking the Tsar for his essential support for the Buddhist community in Saint Petersburg. A lama named Ulyanov, published a book that same year attempting to prove that the Romanovs were directly descended from Sucandra a legendary king of Shambhala.[24]

Ekai Kawaguchi, the Japanese monk travelled in Tibet from July 4, 1900 to June 15, 1902. He reported in his Three Years in Tibet that Dorzhiev, "circulated a pamphlet in which he argued that the Russian Tsar was about to fulfil the old Buddhist messianic myth of Shambhala by founding a great Buddhist empire."[24] Alas, no second source for this story is known.

Saint Petersburg Tibetan Temple

The Buddhist temple in St. Petersburg

In 1909 Dorzhiev got permission from the Tsar to build a large and substantial Buddhist datsan or temple in Saint Petersburg which he hoped would become the residence of the first Buddhist ruler of Russia.

However, the Orthodox Church campaigned strongly against construction of this "pagan" temple across the country, which considerably delayed its construction. However, the first service was held on 21 February 1913, and construction was completed by 1915, when Tsar Nicholas II confirmed the arrival of a staff of nine lamas: three from Transbaikalia, four from Astrakhan Province, and two from Stavropol Province.

A second large service was held on 9 June 1914 to consecrate a large gilded copper statue of the sitting Buddha Shakyamuni, which was a gift from King Rama VI of Siam (Thailand), and a standing Buddha Maitreya, a gift from G. A. Planson of the Russian Council in Bangkok.

The consecration of the datsan was held on 10 August 1915, when it was given the name of Gunzechoinei, or 'The source of the Buddha's Religious Teaching that has Deep Compassion for All Beings.'[4]

After 1917 the building was ransacked and used for many purposes. It was briefly taken over and damaged by a Red Army detachment in 1919. Some repairs were carried out in 1922, major restoration was undertaken about 1926 but soon after there was a general persecution of Buddhism throughout the Buryat-Mongol Republic and the Calmuch Antonymous Region, and monasteries were closed and their property including sacred books, altar ornaments, etc., seized, and lamas heavily repressed.

The Leningrad temple, because of its foreign connection remained relatively immune for a while. In late 1933 the last Buddhist service was held at the temple in honour of the recently deceased Thubten Gyatso, the 13th Dalai Lama of Tibet, who had died 17 December 1933.

By 1935 a large group of lamas was arrested by the NKVD and sentenced to 3 to 5 years hard labour. In 1937 the remaining Buddhists in the city were arrested and shot the same day.[25]

In 1989 the Buddhist community in Saint Petersburg was officially recognised. That year a service was held by the Most Reverend Lama Kushok Bakula Rinpoche. That was the first service in 50 years.

On 14 July 2004, the 150th birthday of Agvan Dorjiev was celebrated at the Buddhist temple in Saint Petersburg, a memory plate was unveiled, and a talk given by the renowned American Buddhist scholar, Robert Thurman.[26]

The Tibet-Mongolia Treaty of 1913

In early 1913, Agvan Dorzhiev and two other Tibetan representatives signed a treaty in Urga, proclaiming mutual recognition and their independence from China. However, Agvan Dorzhiev's authority to sign such a treaty has always been - and still is - disputed by some authorities. According Charles Bell, a British diplomat who had maintained a close relationship with the Dalai Lama, the Dalai Lama had told him that he did not authorize Dorzhiev to sign such a treaty with Mongolia.

John Snelling, however, says: "Though sometimes doubted, this Tibet-Mongolia Treaty certainly existed. It was signed on 29 December 1912 (OS) [that is, by the Julian Calendar - thus making it 8th January 1913 by the Gregorian Calendar that we use] by Dorzhiev and two Tibetans on behalf of the Dalai Lama, and by two Mongolians for the Jebtsundamba Khutukhtu." He then quotes the full wording of the treaty (in English) from the British Public Records Office: FO [Foreign Office] 371 1609 7144: Sir George Buchanan to Sir Edward Grey, Saint Petersburg, dated 11 February 1913.[27]

Some British authors have, based on remarks of a Tibetan diplomat some years later, even disputed the mere existence of the treaty,[28] but scholars of Mongolia generally are very positive it exists. The Mongolian text of the treaty has, for example, been published by the Mongolian Academy of Sciences in 1982.[29]

Also in 1913, Dorzhiev founded a manba datsan, a medical college, at the monastery of Atsagat. It quickly became an important centre of Tibetan medicine in Buryatia.[30]

After the Russian revolution

After the Russian revolution Dorzhiev was arrested and sentenced to death, only to be reprieved due to the intervention of friends in Saint Petersburg. The temple in the city was plundered and his papers destroyed.

As means of making peace with the dramatically changed politics, Dorzhiev was quick to propose the converting of monasteries into collective farms. In 1926 the Buddhist monasteries in the Buryatia were 'nationalized' in which "responsibility for the management of the monasteries" was transferred to collectives of laypeople and the clergy was deprived of its power. This led to much hostility, but the monasteries remained active, and the position of the reformist forces was again strengthened.[9]

In August, 1927 he led and managed a conference of Tibetan doctors in Atsagat. Proposals were made for a central institute to supervise production and standardisation of Tibetan herbal remedies.[31]

Dorzhiev managed to co-exist with the Communists during the 1920s but was again arrested by the NKVD during Stalin's Great Purge on 13 November 1937 and charged with treason, preparation for an armed uprising, and spying for the Mongolians and Japanese. He died in police custody, though apparently of cardiac arrest, after being transferred from his cell to the prison hospital on 29 January 1938, aged 85.[32][33]

He was buried at in "a secret traditional burial place in the forest near Chelutai." The location of the cemetery has only been made known in recent years and some estimates say at least 40,000 people were buried there.[25] Dorzhiev was not officially fully rehabilitated, though, until 14 May 1990, when the case was dismissed, 'on grounds of lack of evidence and absence of criminal activity.'[34]

Notes

  1. ^ Samten (1910), p. 357.
  2. ^ Red Star Travel Guide.
  3. ^ Chö-Yang: The Voice of Tibetan Religion and Culture. Year of Tibet Edition, p. 80. 1991. Gangchen Kyishong, Dharamsala, H.P., India.
  4. ^ a b Ostrovskaya-Junior, Elena A. "Buddhism in Saint Petersburg."
  5. ^ Snelling, John. (1990). The Sacred Mountain: The Complete Guide to Tibet's Mount Kailas. (1983). Revised and Enlarged Edition (1990), p. 232. London and The Hague: East-West Publications. ISBN 0-85692-173-4.
  6. ^ a b Hundley, Helen. (1993). "Tibet's part in the 'great game.' (Agvan Dorjiev)." History Today, Vol. 43 (Oct. 1993), pp. 45-50. Downloaded from: http://ccbbs.ntu.edu.tw/FULLTEXT/JR-EPT/helen.htm.
  7. ^ French (1994), p. 186.
  8. ^ Mullin, Glenn H. (2001). The Fourteen Dalai Lamas: A Sacred Legacy of Reincarnation", p. 400. Clear Light Publishers, Santa Fe, New Mexico. ISBN 1-57416-092-3.
  9. ^ a b c Saxer (2004), p. 35.
  10. ^ Richardson, Hugh E. (1984) Tibet and its History. Second Edition, p. 81. Revised and Updated, p. 106. Shambhala, Boston & London. ISBN 0-87773-376-7.
  11. ^ French (1994), p. 187.
  12. ^ Chapman, Spencer. (1940). Lhasa: The Holy City, p. 131. Readers Union Ltd., London.
  13. ^ Snelling, John. (1993). Buddhism in Russia: The Story of Agvan Dorzhiev : Lhasa's Emissary to the Tsar, p. 77. Element Books. ISBN 1-85230-332-8.
  14. ^ French (1994), p. 188
  15. ^ Saxer (2004), p. 37
  16. ^ Laird, Thomas (2006). The Story of Tibet: Conversations with the Dalai Lama, p. 221. Grove Press, N.Y. ISBN 978-0-8021-1827-1.
  17. ^ French (1994), p. 258.
  18. ^ French (1994), p. 233.
  19. ^ Royal Fusiliers Regimental History, Tower of London
  20. ^ Charles Allen, The myth of Chumik Shenko, History Today, April 2004 p10
  21. ^ French (1994), p. 241.
  22. ^ Snellgrove, David. (1987). Indo-Tibetan Buddhism: Indian Buddhists & their Tibetan successors, Vol. I, p. 151. Shambhala, Boston. ISBN 0-87773-311-2.
  23. ^ Mayhew, Bradley and Kohn, Michael. Tibet, p. 64. 6th Edition. (2005). Lonely Planet. ISBN 1-74059-523-8.
  24. ^ a b Andreev (1991), p. 216.
  25. ^ a b Andreev (1991), p. 221
  26. ^ Ocean of wisdom :: gallery
  27. ^ Snelling, John. (1993). Buddhism in Russia: The Story of Agvan Dorzhiev, Lhasa's Emissary to the Tsar. (1993) Element Inc., pp. 150-151; 292. ISBN 1-85230-332-8
  28. ^ Quoted by Sir Charles Bell, "Tibet and Her Neighbours", Pacific Affairs(Dec 1937), pp. 435–6, a high Tibetan official pointed out years later that there was "no need for a treaty; we would always help each other if we could."
  29. ^ Udo B. Barkmann, Geschichte der Mongolei, Bonn 1999, p. 380f
  30. ^ Saxer (2004), p. 50
  31. ^ Saxer (2004), p. 50.
  32. ^ French (1994), pp. 259-260.
  33. ^ Andreev (1991), p. 221.
  34. ^ Snelling, John. (1993). Buddhism in Russia: The Story of Agvan Dorzhiev: Lhasa's Emissary to the Tsar, p. 252. Element Books. ISBN 1-85230-332-8.

References

  • Andreev, Alexandr. (1991)."Agwan Dorjiev and the Buddhist Temple in Petrograd". In: Chö-Yang: The Voice of Tibetan Religion and Culture. Year of Tibet Edition. 1991. Gangchen Kyishong, Dharamsala, H.P., India.
  • Andreyev, Alexandre (1996). "Soviet Russia and Tibet: A Debacle of Secret Diplomacy." The Tibet Journal. Vol. XXI, No. 3. Autumn 1996, pp. 4–34.
  • Bernstein, Anya (2006). "Pilgrims, Fieldworkers, and Secret Agents: Buryat Buddhologists and Eurasian Imaginary." [1].
  • Bray, John (1996). Book Review of: Snelling, John. (1993). Buddhism in Russia: The Story of Agvan Dorzhiev : Lhasa's Emissary to the Tsar. Element Books. ISBN 978-1852303327. The Tibet Journal. Vol. XXI, No. 3. Autumn 1996, pp. 71–73.
  • French, Patrick. Younghusband: The Last Great Imperial Adventurer (1994). Reprint: Flamingo, London. ISBN 978-0-00-637601-9.
  • Kuleshov, Nikolai S. Russia's Tibet File, the unknown pages in the history of Tibet's independence, (first edition 1996), edited by Alexander Berzin and John Bray, LTWA, ISBN 81-86470-05-0.
  • Samten, Jampa. (2010). "Notes on the Thirteenth Dalai Lama's Confidential Letter to the Tsar of Russia." In: The Tibet Journal, Special issue. Autumn 2009 vol XXXIV n. 3-Summer 2010 vol XXXV n. 2. "The Earth Ox Papers", edited by Roberto Vitali, pp. 357–370.
  • Saxer, Martin (2004). Journeys with Tibetan Medicine: How Tibetan Medicine came to the West: The Story of the Badmayev Family. Masters Thesis, University of Zurich.
  • Snelling, John. (1993). Buddhism in Russia: The Story of Agvan Dorzhiev : Lhasa's Emissary to the Tsar. Element Books. ISBN 978-1852303327.
  • Znamenski, Andrei. (2011). Red Shambhala: Magic, Prophecy, and Geopolitics in the Heart of Asia. Quest Books. ISBN 978-0-8356-0891-6.

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